- Mike Johnstone appointed Group Lotus’ Vice-President, Commercial
- Mike will lead Group Lotus’ global commercial operations, reporting to CEO Mr Feng Qingfeng
Hethel, UK – 11 January 2023 Group Lotus has appointed Mike Johnstone as Vice-President, Commercial, to lead the company’s global commercial operations.
Mike’s appointment marks the beginning of a new era in the transformation of the Lotus brand, as the company continues the rapid expansion of its model range, grows its international footprint and aims to reach 100,000+ sales by 2028 when the company marks its 80th year.
Bringing together the existing Sales, Aftersales, Brand and PR functions into a newly formed global commercial division under Mike’s leadership, his team will be responsible for all product lines across all territories.
Mike joins Group Lotus from Volvo Cars where he most recently led the global marketing team in Gothenburg, Sweden. Prior to Volvo Cars, Mike held various sales and marketing roles at major brands including Harley-Davidson and Kawasaki Motors.
Working closely with the Group’s other Vice-Presidents, including Matt Windle (Group VP and Managing Director, Lotus Cars), Mike will report directly to Mr Feng Qingfeng, Group CEO, under the Group Lotus umbrella and according to the company principle of ‘Born British, Raised Globally’.
Mike’s appointment is effective immediately and he will be based in London.
Ends
Notes to Editors
For more information please contact the Lotus Communications team:
Rob Borrett, Head of Media and Launch Programmes
+44 (0) 7718 560789
Richard Yarrow, Head of News and Technology Communications
+44 (0) 7471 994525
Alastair Florance, PR Manager
+ 44 (0) 7802 918662
Samantha Thomas, PR Officer, Product Press and Digital Media
+44 (0) 7909 813785
Ramzi Atat, Head of Marketing and PR (Asia Pacific and Middle East)
+971 50 5187778
Camille Landry, Head of Marketing (Americas)
+1 737 660 6787
Diederik Reitsma, PR Manager, European Markets
diederik.reitsma@eu.lotuscars.com
+ 31 651 939 185
Aurora Yang, PR Manager (China)
+86 186 09287181
The Lotus media site – https://media.lotuscars.com – contains news, images, specifications and full details of current models, as well as heritage cars and engineering technology.
For the latest news and information from the Lotus PR Team please follow:
https://twitter.com/LotusCarsPR
https://www.instagram.com/LotusCarsPR
For Lotus Cars social media please follow:
https://www.facebook.com/LotusCars
https://www.instagram.com/lotuscars
https://www.youtube.com/grouplotus
https://www.linkedin.com/company/group-lotus
About Lotus
Lotus Cars is based in Hethel, Norfolk, UK, and is the global HQ for sports car and hypercar manufacturing operations, Lotus Advanced Performance and the iconic 2.2-mile test track. Lotus Cars builds world-class high-performance cars, born out of legendary success on the racetrack including 13 FIA Formula 1 world titles and many other championship honours. In July 2021 Lotus unveiled the all-new Lotus Emira, its last petrol-powered sports car and best-of-breed, and in July 2019 it launched the Evija, the world’s first all-electric British hypercar. Customer deliveries of both cars will begin during 2022. In March 2022 Lotus revealed the Eletre, the world’s first all-electric hyper-SUV. Customer deliveries will begin in 2023. The Lotus Type 135, an all-electric sports car, is currently being designed and engineered at Hethel.
Lotus Engineering provides comprehensive consultancy services to many of the world’s OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. It is internationally recognised for its long-standing contribution to ground-breaking engineering and innovative vehicle development. Its expertise extends beyond automotive; in August 2021 a Lotus Engineering-developed track bike helped Team GB’s cyclists win seven medals, including three golds, at the Tokyo Olympics. An international consultancy with offices around the world, Lotus Engineering is headquartered at the Lotus Advanced Technology Centre on the University of Warwick’s Wellesbourne Campus in the UK.
Lotus Tech is an affiliate company of Group Lotus, established as part of the Vision80 strategy established in 2018. With operational assets across China, the UK and Europe, Lotus Tech is dedicated to delivering smart lifestyle battery electric vehicles (BEVs) such as the Eletre. Lotus Tech is focused on R&D in next-generation automobility technologies such as electrification, digitalisation and more. In addition to the Lotus Eletre, Lotus Tech plans to launch further BEV models including a sports sedan (Type 133) another SUV (Type 134) and more, as Vision80 reaches maturity in 2028.
Group Lotus is either the parent company of or affiliated with the above. In 2017, Geely Holding Group, one of the fastest growing automotive group in the world, acquired a 51% stake in Group Lotus. The other 49% is owned by Etika Automotive, a Malaysian conglomerate.